"WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe" (wesbarton89)
10/28/2014 at 21:33 • Filed to: oppositelock revue
2
7|
"WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe" (wesbarton89)
10/28/2014 at 21:33 • Filed to: oppositelock revue | 2
| 7 |
You voted, Oppo, and this got the majority of votes! Here you go!
*not my car, nor are any of the included images my car, because I didn't take any. It was this color though.
Ah.... 1999, the last year of the 90s, and the last year of the third gen Taurus (96-99), made by the Blue Oval. Speaking of ovals, everything in this car that could be shaped like an oval was. Even the car itself had a distinct oval shape to it. It was very ugly, in my opinion, but more on that later.
I purchased this vehicle in November of 2010, just before Thanksgiving. I made a down payment with my insurance check after I wrecked my Infiniti. Worst. mistake. ever. I owned it for less than 3 months before I returned it to the dealer. Pretty sure it was the base model, I think I stated LX before, but I think it was actually the GL model. It had only the basics, basically.
( Full Disclosure: Ford hated me so much, they literally forced me to buy this vehicle by entering my dreams, Inception style, and made me think I wanted to put a $1,000 down payment on it, or approximately 50% of the purchase price.)
Exterior 3/10
The ovals! Good lord, all the ovals! Everywhere. The headlights, taillights, rear windshield, even the car itself, so many ovals, and such an ugly, atrocious, horrible design! The whole thing was ovulated! Also, it was white, plain white, too plain. There was also a dent on the rear bumper, that I dented worse when I hit a patch of ice and slid into a snowbank. It's also a super long vehicle, which means that I have to look all across the expanse of Middle Earth to see out the back window. I also ended up losing the driver's side mirror, so that brings the points down more. Basically, I don't like the design at all. I've seen worse, but there are so many better looking cars. It's just so round, and weird, like a big egg, that hatched out nothing but hate and misery.
Interior 4/10
More ovals! Center stack? Ovals. Window switches? Ovals. Shape of the dash? Ovals. Pedals? Surprisingly not ovals.
The interior, overall, was pretty basic. Manual cloth seats, power locks, windows and mirrors, cassette player, basic HVAC. (Heat didn't work, and it was in the middle of winter). Front seat was a bench seat, with a flippy center-console thing, and it had cupholders. The shifter was a 4-speed Ford-built SuckBox auto on the column. No 3rd row seating, but the second row seats folded pretty much flat, so there was LOTS of space. I loved the amount of space there, so it earns major points. One big benefit of a wagon, right there. Other than that, the interior was unremarkable.
Acceleration 4/10
Acceleration? What? What's that? This thing was pretty anemic when it came to accelerating, which I was afraid to do anyways, due to a severe coolant leak, which meant constant overheating. It had the 3.0L Vulcan V6 engine, which never really performed adequately like it should have. I never had it past 70mph, and even then, it shook and rattled like crazy.
Braking 7/10
Breaking? Oh, it did plenty of that. It broke constantly. Oh, as in stopping the car while it's in motion. It did that fine, as well. Brakes were good, never gave me any trouble. That's one problem I did not have.
Ride 5/10
It rode okay, I suppose. It wasn't smooth, and it wasn't super rough unless I was driving it at 65mph on the freeway, which I rarely did. I usually went through town when I drove it. I'm not much for freeway driving to begin with, honestly, but it rode well enough that people didn't complain about the ride.
Handling 2/10
The power steering went out after a month and a half. (Warranty was only 1 month). That seriously affected handling, and it was hard to steer, harder in fact, than my much larger Durango that lost power steering, and harder to steer than my Explorer when the power steering was on its way out with that vehicle. It also pulled a little bit. Steering was basically numb, with little road feel communicated to me. I did a complete 360 in snow at one point, and I was somehow able to get it back on the proper side of the road, just narrowly avoiding an oncoming truck. The thing did not handle for anything, really at all. Not even close.
Gearbox 2/10
It loses points because it's an automatic. A woefully inadequate 4-speed auto. It hunted for gears, and gear changes were rough. It was a pain in the neck. I've driven so many cars with auto trannies, even other Fords, and they all did better. This is the worst transmission I have ever encountered. I'm only awarding points, because it did work, but only barely.
Toys 1/10
There were like, no toys in this thing. It felt as cheap as some toys I've played with, but no real toys. The only power functions in the car were the windows, locks, and mirrors, and they worked well enough, when the car would actually start, which it normally didn't, due to a bad battery.
Audio 1/10
My audio was primarily road noise. The Taurus had a basic, non-working cassette player. It had two non-working power outlets. It did have a (broken) power antenna that was stuck, but the mechanism would try to retract when I turned it off, so it sounded like a dying whale, and reception of radio stations was pretty terrible because of the broken antenna. It was also nearly impossible to replace the stock head unit because of the stupid oval shape! I was stuck! Yeah, not a pleasant place to be, at all.
Value 3/10
I didn't pay much for the vehicle, but any amount was overpayment. Within the warranty running out, I lost power steering, had a severe coolant leak, which meant constant overheating, and having to park the car to wait for it to cool down. The heat didn't work at all. The antenna was broken. It got terrible gas mileage, and I ran out of gas more than once because the gauge didn't work right all the time. The speedo, odo, etc. lights were half burnt out. This car was just overall, a lemon. Terrible car. Worst car I have ever had. I gave it back to the dealer.
Overall 32/100
Yes, this is a terrible score. Yes, the car deserves this low of a score. No, I am not sorry if it offends you. I have nothing against wagons. I just have stuff against bad cars, and this car was very bad. I did not enjoy driving it, at all. I hated it.
Engine: 3.0L Vulcan V6
Output: 145hp @ 5250 RPM/170 ft-lbs. torque @ 3250 RPM
Transmission: 4-speed automatic
0-60 time: Around 9.9s
Top speed: Around 112-125mph
Curb weight: 3,480lbs
Seating: 6 people
MPG: Est. 16 city/24 hwy (approx significantly less observed)
Tomorrow, I'll do the Mazda Millenia S.
Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
> WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
10/28/2014 at 21:37 |
|
Holy crap.. that's the ugliest thing I've seen in a loooooong time.
Tuned-Port-Injected-Rage
> WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
10/28/2014 at 22:20 |
|
Wow, that is one of the ugliest interiors I've ever seen.
|
WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
> Tuned-Port-Injected-Rage
10/28/2014 at 23:39 |
|
It is terrible. A sea of plastic ovals. Terrible place to spend time. Tomorrow's review will be much better.
|
Tuned-Port-Injected-Rage
> WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
10/28/2014 at 23:59 |
|
I always wonder why Ford chose that design. I mean, the Second Gen Taurus was not an amazing looking car, but it was way better than the oval-machine we were given.
ShelbyRacer78-Fusion Modifier
> WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
10/29/2014 at 00:20 |
|
If you need help fixing it, please let me know...
|
WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
> ShelbyRacer78-Fusion Modifier
10/29/2014 at 00:34 |
|
Appreciate that, but I got rid of this thing years ago now.
|
WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
> Tuned-Port-Injected-Rage
10/29/2014 at 10:41 |
|
I agree. My mom had a second-gen Taurus for years and it was certainly easier to stomach than this design.